diversity issues and starting a private practice Flashcards
how must a psychologist be competent
-Psychologist must be competent in all work they do whether psychotherapy, assessment, supervision, teaching, or research
-Psychologists must make efforts to maintain competence
-Psychologists must have a scientific or professional basis for their decisions
-Important when dealing with specific populations where age, gender, gender identity, language, culture, or national origin impact the quality of treatment
types of competence
-Competence as an ethical and legal responsibility
-Competence and conflict
-Intellectual competence (knowing about and knowing how)
-Emotional competence (knowing thyself)
what is competence
Competence as an ethical and legal responsibility
-Demonstrable competence: evidence of competence from formal education, professional training, supervision, and continuing education
-Recognizing therapist’s power and influence
-Clients will often hold on to things that we say and we want to make sure that what we are saying is based in fact/science
competence and conflict
-Acknowledging when we might lack confidence for a particular situation
-E.g. supervisor wants to give a diagnosis that you do not agree with, how do you bring this up and balance with the idea that you might be wrong
explain intellectual competence (knowing when and knowing how)
-Knowledge from graduate training and supervision
-Knowing how to create and test hypotheses
-Learning which clinical approaches, strategies, or techniques how evidence or promise of effectiveness
-Which approaches are invalid or harmful
-Admitting that we do not know
-Knowing how to do certain clinical tasks
explain emotional competence
-Reflects our awareness and respect for ourselves as unique, fallible human beings
-Self knowledge, self acceptance, and self monitoring
-Consistent questioning of oneself
E.g. metaphor- depending on where you are sitting on the plane, impacts what you see (pilot, passenger, flight attendant)
explain compassionate exceptions where you can intervene without competence (two situations)
Psychologist can intervene even in situations where they have not acquired the necessary competence in unusual situations where withholding treatment could have serious consequences for the patients
-E.g. disasters, mass shootings, etc.
-E.g. no other psychologists available
-Only do it until the emergency is over
Two exceptions in which a psychologist can treat a patient
1) Underserved populations: they have training in a closely related field and make reasonable efforts to ensure the competence required
2) Emergency situations: refer the individual or ensure they (the psychologist) becomes competent after the emergency is over
explain forensics as a competence hazard
Expert witness (questions about diagnosis, treatment goals, progress, content of sessions, etc.)
-Making more of a clinical impression, opinion about decision
Witness of facts (dates of treatment, fees, etc.)
explain medication as a competence hazard
Alternative treatments
-Psychologists bear burden proving reasonable likelihood of success
Referrals
-Inform patients of reasonable treatments alternatives
-E.g. alternative medicines, we have to speak on the level that we have competence
-Knowing when to refer
-Psychiatrist vs. non psychiatrist physician
Basic knowledge
self care as competence hazard
-Right balance of emotion
-Awareness of feelings that patients engender in psychologists
-Balance of enmeshed and distant
-Addiction
-Degree of sensitivity and receptiveness will be influence by external events and internal struggles
-Strong social support is imperative
-“share the burden”
E.g. clients who are our special clients, we might work too hard for them
-Self regulation strategies
other hazards of competence
-Special populations
-Cultural competence
-Technology
-Confidentiality with technology
-If you are having client material on your computer, is it safeguarded?
Emergencies
-Have to end treatment when the emergency ends if you do not have competence
EBT/EST
-Evidence based treatments
explain multicultural competence
Multicultural responsibility requires a fusion of personal and professional commitments to consider culture during ethical encounters
Responsibility and commitment
Ethical awareness
-Matching
-Matching across identities helps the relationship, but it is more about someone’s attitude over time
-Integration of faith
-Use of interpreters
-Use of guidelines
socialization and oppression in psychotherapy framework
Reflection critically on relationship power dynamics
-Cultures where you are seen as an expert; make sure they have power and autonomy in the room
Mitigating relational power dynamics
Focusing on empowerment and strengths based approaches
Focusing energy and resources on the priorities of marginalized communities
-Having a cultural informant can help
Contributing time, funding, and effort to preventative work
Engaging with social systems
Raising awareness about system impacts on individual and community well-being
explain multicultural ethical competence
Fusion of personal and professional commitments to consider culture during ethical encounters
explain competent multicultural ethical decision making requiring application of ecological model
-Cultural attitudes toward individual autonomy and communal responsibility
-Historical and contemporary prejudices along with acts of injustice and power imbalances without society and psychology as a discipline
-Sociopolitical factors influencing definitions of race and ethnicity
-Intersection of race/ethnicity and class, sexual orientation, and gender identity, disability, SES, and other contexts
